This has been a terrific discussion! We can start thinking about our April selection whenever you’re ready. 
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This is going to be a hard book to top for me. I am so glad it got picked!
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I agree. Even though I did not love the book as most did, I’m still glad to have read it.
The discussion, in and of itself, was excellent. I’m almost tempted to reread the book. I know I’d get more out of it now.
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We considered these books along with Cloud Cuckoo Land last time:
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
I thought I’d pull the titles back up for a start.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is getting a lot of buzz right now. Publication date: Feb. 1 so it may be hard to get but, then again, maybe not if you get on a hold list quickly, which I did.
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@Mary13: I just added Black Cake.
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I read Malibu Rising not too long ago and found it entertaining. It was a quick read, maybe a good break from our longer books. My friend who is a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan says The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six are her very best.
Turning 180 degrees of emotion … I am curious to read Maus. It’s a graphic novel based on the author’s parents’ experience in the Holocaust. It’s been in the “banned book” news recently, so, we’d have to tiptoe around current politics, I suppose.
If we’re going to go the banned books route, I found Gender Queer fascinating. Pair of banned books? Both in graphic format, this one a memoir.
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I’d be fine with reading a pair of banned books. I’ve read Maus, so I like the idea of pairing it with something I haven’t read. I think the only graphic novel this group has read is Persepolis which we paired with Reading Lolita in Tehran. I think everyone was very disappointed by the latter! Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy is another book about growing up gay that has been banned. https://bannedbooks.library.cmu.edu/alison-bechdel-fun-home-a-family-tragicomic/
I read Fun Home and enjoyed it very much. Bechdel is very clever.
I think a pair of banned books is a great idea. And I already own Maus, so there’s that.
Can I make a request for a book that is happy? Thanks. I just find life is challenging enough not to want to deal with more suffering vicariously.
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My RL book Club just read “Klara and the Sun” and had a great discussion. Another one that I prejudged as a book I wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Currently reading “The Island of Missing Trees” for the same Book Club. They jury is still out on that one …
I’m fine with banned books – in fact, bring 'em on! But, I’m not necessarily crazy about graphic novels since I do all my reading on a Kindle.
Good point about graphic novels on the Kindle … the pits.
The Kindle app (free) on my computer lets me see things bigger and in color, tho, so that’s a possibility for me and maybe others.
Finally able to read the thread. 3 days ago, my library waitlist took me from 9 weeks wait to zero. I read the book as quickly as I could but I’m not sure that I’m ready to add to the discussion. Lots of layers, lots to unpack and digest!
I enjoyed the book but won’t say that I loved it. It is one of the better books I’ve read in a long while, thought provoking and clever, with happy and sad moments.
No votes or vetos for April’s choice as yet. Anything that is readily available from the library would be my request.
I’m off to read the discussion now. So many posts to read…
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Yes, a book available at no charge via public domain or widely available at libraries would be great! Had to buy Cloud Cuckoo Land because it wasn’t going to be available soon enough—still on waiting list.
I would greatly appreciate that we don’t get a very newly published book. Because I have a terrible library system, I have to purchase most of the books that we read. While I don’t mind, I am really happy when I can get something on E-Bay. So much less expensive for me.
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LOL, I’d say that’s a veto for Maus!
Which is fine, because I don’t really want to reread it.
@HIMom, if you want a happy book, I highly recommend Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Very uplifting!
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Sounds like a veto to me also. Fine by me also because I don’t really want to reread it either.
However, for those who haven’t read it, I highly recommend it (often).
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Just read all the posts! 
This was a very prolific discussion. Y’all brought such interesting inputs and great information to the discussion — I enjoyed reading every post. It all adds so much more to the enjoyment of the book.
While I wouldn’t give the book more than 4 stars, I’m filled with admiration for Doerr — what a talented storyteller and master craftsman.
My quick take on the book is that it isn’t about a central character (Zeno is the one that comes closest to one for me) but that it’s more about a journey and a moralistic message — be content with what you have and take care of it, protect it and don’t hanker for more. Also, every journey undertaken in the book ultimately ends just back at home or close enough.
Doerr uses the fictional story of Cloud Cuckoo Land to relay the message. The book’s message is part of every story. The 15th century story takes two simultaneous strands and brings them together, making them the protectors of the book. Zeno’s story brings the book back to the world at a time when that message is needed. Konstance is brought back to her natural world through the book and Zeno’s translation of it and Seymour’s story paves the way for making it possible.
Lot of interconnected strands that were joined together to create a tapestry depicting an epic. Doerr stitches together pieces and scraps and connects them. Perhaps it is at times over connected and contrived — I almost expected to discover some connection from Omeir and Anna’s line to the more modern day characters.
Overall, this was a great pick for our book club. It’s a book that will stay in my head. The troubling vision of a climate changed Earth it shows is too real and close for comfort. What a damaged legacy we leave for future generations if we don’t stem the tide of destructive behavior!
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I’m new to the group, but I’ll throw Lincoln Highway (Amor Towles) out there as a book suggestion. I’m excited for the next discussion whatever the book!
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I’d be game for discussion of The Lincoln Highway since I just finished it for a zoom book club (and liked it). But I’ll warn that it is new and popular, so I was not able to get through the library wait list fast enough … had to buy it. (same for Cuckoo)